Carefree

Sometimes I'm envious of my kids.

That sounds weird, but I love how simple their lives are right now. Carefree, innocent, naive---wouldn't it be nice to return to childhood for a bit? No real responsibilities or adult-like worries. Everything is new and magical and mostly FUN. The hardest parts of their day are when I force Cecelia to lay still for a diaper change, and when I force Truman to eat grilled chicken breast instead of chicken nuggets. The horror.

They are along for the ride and up for whatever activity we have planned. Running errands with mom, playgrounds, the pool, backyard play time, play dates....they never 'plan' how our day will go and most days they are usually pretty happy with what we've done together. Sufficiently worn out and content. I love watching them sleep at night after a busy day together and I like to think that we are creating fun memories each day. And of course both of my kids are too young to really remember our days right now, which is why blogs were created. Right? ;) Thank God for blogs and photos or how could Truman and Cecelia ever know how much fun we are having lately?

We tried the sprinkler with Truman last year and he was not a fan. But Monday night, after dinner with my mom and popsicles outside, mom mentioned that we should try the sprinkler. Partially because the kids were filthy from the popsicle escapades but partially because it was hot and a little hose-down sounded amazing.

I grabbed my real camera and can't help but smile looking at these images. Childhood fun. Summer evenings. My growing boy whose zest for life and never-ending curiosity and energy amaze me each day. I love it all so much. Especially the little boy undies---because who can be bothered with a swimming suit in your own back yard?

Summer = The Best

Today was one of those blog-worthy days.

Not because it was particularly challenging, or that a kid was totally out of sorts, or anything horrible happened. Quite the opposite: today was just a fun day, when everything seemed to click. Since there are usually one of these days for every three frustrating/horrible ones (and then everything else is in between), I feel the need to document.

Started the morning at 5:30, nursing my ever-growing baby girl. A little early for my taste but each nursing session feels like a gift at this point, rounding the corner to fourteen months.

I got a solo run in this morning before Nate left for work, since he is starting his Tuesdays later to make up for being gone until 9 pm this day. He's gone late for golf, not work, so don't feel too badly for him. But we signed up for another half marathon so we are trying to be good about actually running three days per week again---and it felt awesome to hit the pavement before 7 am, even if it was already 80 degrees. Happy to have a husband who will watch the kids and allow me my alone time to set the day off right.

We met our new neighbors who are moving in next month. They are newlyweds and seem really fun, which is good since we only have one neighbor. Excited to get to know them over the years and I feel a little nostalgic thinking about those first few months of marriage, and how they are just starting some of the most memorable years of their lives.

Cecelia took a stellar morning nap while T and I played trains. Then the three of us went to the pool and although it was PACKED because Wisconsin isn't sure what to do with 90 degree weather, it was a blast. My favorite part was having both kids on my lap as we sat in the water together and we were bouncing and jumping and I was throwing them in the air. My least favorite part was when Cecelia face planted into the sand and I had to rinse out her nostrils and eyelids with water. But she was surprisingly tough and couldn't get enough of the sand and the water today. We were there from 11-1 and I could tell the sun did it's job to wear my kids out before naps. Thanks, sun. I owe you one.

Truman went down right away since he ate a little lunch at the pool. CC and I ate together, she played alone for a whole five minutes (!!), and then she nursed down for her nap. Which ended up being another solid 2+ hours. Amazing. Never happens anymore. Dual naps = happiest mom.

I got all caught up on my work stuff during the naps, then continued to plan and research for new wall decor and picture frames for our house. Is it lame that home decor projects make me ridiculously happy? Did some laundry and even folded it right away. I'm telling you, something good was in the air today.

Once Cecelia finally woke up (in a great mood!) we got her big brother, too. They had a snack and I realized CC is probably old enough to actually sit at the kids table with her brother. Snapped the first pictures of the day (the horror) and chuckled at how cute they can be together. Right before they started pushing the table back and forth away from each other.





I made dinner and Truman said, 'Mommy, don't put CC in her highchair to eat yet. I want her to play with me.' So they did, and I had a glimpse into my future of children actually entertaining each other instead of needing me to keep them occupied. Love it.

Both kids ate well for dinner. And so I formulated a plan: it was only 6pm and both kids slept so late in the day that I wanted to push my luck and try for a few errands 'late night'. Cecelia usually goes down at 7 but you know what? It's summer. They were well-rested and I still had a few places calling my name. So we packed up, Truman demanded to help CC put her tiny shoes on her tiny feet, and our trio was off. So wild, aren't we?

First, Michaels to check out frames and a canvas (scored on both fronts). Then to my favorite consignment shop because I left a diaper cover there over the weekend and they held it for me behind the counter. And then? I asked Truman if we should get Kopps custard because we were kind of close. And the flavors of the day looked too irresistible. Anything with Reeces PB cup and I'm a goner and apparently Truman 'loves orange'. Done.



We sat outside and again, I had a wave of gratitude for these amazing kids. Grateful for summer warmth, a sun that doesn't set until 9pm, for my part time schedule, and for these two little beings that Nate and I created.....making memories with them like random ice cream on a summer night. Childhood. Innocence. Dessert. It doesn't get much better.









Of course, Cecelia unloaded in her diaper while we were basking in the glory of the moment and heaven on earth Kopps doesn't have a changing table, apparently. Changing a dirty diaper in the front seat of my car because the trunk was overtaken by picture frames was probably the low point of the day, which really wasn't all that low.

Bath time was a breeze, reading books to my babes was fun, and putting miss C down was a sweet quiet moment for just us girls. Nate is home now and Truman is still awake at 9:30 pm. I guess he doesn't want the day to end just yet, either.

I need to shower because chlorine and sweat and general disgustingness clings to me. But I hope the contentment I feel after a fabulous day at home with my kids sticks with me, too. When the challenging days hit me like a ton of bricks, I'll do my best to remember our summer fun day. And maybe a run, or a trip to the pool, or just custard could cause contentment by themselves but for some reason it was a freaking awesome day.

Love it when that happens.

Recovering our Dining Room Chairs

Ever since I found our dining room chairs on Craigslist, I wanted to recover them. The current cream colored fabric wasn't TOO awful when we first brought them into our house but in the past year our family has managed to work this fabric for all it's worth. And then some.



I drug my feet with this project, though, because I just couldn't decide what type of fabric to use and what color to choose. At first I thought about oil cloth because it's stain resistant and you can just wipe it down after spills. (ie super kid friendly). But when I looked online I found that most of these fabrics were easily $20/yd and I couldn't stomach that cost. At Joann's I did find one oil cloth that was sort of reasonable, closer to $12/yd but it was bright red with flowers and very country. Not my style at all.

The other thought I had (with Hannah's suggestion) was to use 'laminated cotton' which is basically cloth diaper cover material. Again, online it was easy to find but pricey and at Joann's they only had really babyish prints for cloth diapers. I didn't think our dining room chairs would look great with yellow rubber ducky printed fabric on them, so I let that idea go, too. So much for being waterproof and stain proof!

When at Joann's, I decided to just go with an indoor/outdoor heavy canvas fabric that isn't stain-proof but it's sturdy enough to do the job. I intend to spray it with Scotch guard at some point as long as that doesn't make my colors bleed, and I'm not totally opposed to covering the two kids' chairs with clear plastic, either. We will see;)

I got my navy and white geometric fabric at a STEAL of a price from Joann's---over 6 yards for $35 total. WHAT? I know. Some major sales going on that day at 50% off and then I got another discount at the register (that I'm not totally sure was correct, but whatever). Also, I have so much left over that I could easily recover all of the chairs again in this same fabric if it does get stained---or I could just replace a chair or two every few years as needed. Nice to have that backup in the basement if we ruin these cushions, too;)

I had planned to remove all of the old fabric, all of the staples and totally recover the chairs after inspecting the foam padding to make sure it's still good. But, no. Once I unscrewed the pads I realized that these staples were no joke. So I took the easy way out and just covered on top of the old stuff----no pattern to use this way, since I couldn't use the old cream stuff as a guide. But I knew I had plenty of extra fabric so I just laid the cushions down, cut roughly around the outside leaving room to tuck underneath, and began stapling my life away. You can tell this new stuff was not done by the pros but as long as nobody stares at the bottom of my chair cushions, I guess it doesn't matter.






Nate actually wanted to help with this task---it's his staple gun, after all;) We had to be careful to get the prints lined up the same on each of the six chairs. And we started on one side, then the opposite side to make it nice and taut. Then the other two sides and of course the corners were the hardest. I was worried this would be really difficult to get the fabric smooth and not wrinked or puckered but it wasn't hard at all. After the first chair we lightened up a bit and realized it didn't have to be perfect.

Then all we had to do was screw the cushions back onto the chairs...


And voila! Easiest project ever, and one that I should have done a long time ago.










I love the new fabric and think it gives the dining room just the pop it needed. I have always wanted to get a new rug for under our table and now I REALLY want a new one, but I suppose it's fine for now. Also, this bold pattern so close to our chevron blue rug in the family room kind of bugs me, but I know someday we will also get a new rug in the family room. The chevron is still fine but it's pretty cheap and showing it's wear over time. But until then, I just pretend that I can pull off so many bold prints in our main rooms of the house;)