The Nursery… Then and Now

Once upon a time in 1996 there was a young couple in their early 20’s who bought their first house and excitedly decorated the small room upstairs for their first baby boy or girl who would arrive in just a few months figuring this room would service 2 or maybe 3 children over the next few years.

The blue and white theme with adorable farm animals awaited with brand new baby furniture for the anticipated arrival in January 1997. 

I remember wishing my whole house could be as cute and as nicely decorated.  It was so crisp and clean.  And CUTE!  This was the very first room we decorated in our very first house, thanks to some help from my Mom who purchased the wallpaper and border as a 2nd Wedding Anniversary gift.  I had looked at this paper while visiting her that summer but couldn’t find it here at any of the stores.  Frankly money was tight too.  I guess after nearly 16 years the décor has served us well.

A beautiful baby Haley arrived to us at the beginning of 1997 and she enjoyed this bedroom for a little over two years.  Then Lindsay had this room to herself for about two years and then it sat empty as she really wanted to share a room with her sister and sleep in a big girl bed.  About 10 months later we brought home a little baby boy who eventually took down some rather large pieces of blue and white paper which we puzzle pieced back up with wallpaper paste.  Behind the crib no one could even tell there had been trouble.  And when the big boy bed arrived the wall was hidden with pillows.  A few years later the crib graced the other side of the room with a room mate… another baby girl who made the other side of the wallpapered wall match.  We puzzled those few pieces back on the wall; good as new.  She too, moved over with her sisters in a big girl bed after two years.  We repainted the trim and the room still looked great.  We removed carpeting and sanded wood floors contemplated repainting the room but decided it was still a cute room.  Considering that we always planned on moving out of this house before too many years had passed it would have been unbelievable to us in 1996 to think that a fifth baby would have the opportunity to enjoy this bedroom.

Meet Tristan’s long term room mate, Nathan, who singlehandedly took down any wallpaper in this room that he could reach last year.  At first I tried desperately to save the scraps he was pulling off but it wasn’t long before the clear choice was made for me… the room needed to be redecorated but at the end of summer I knew we wouldn’t have time to take care of the room anytime soon.  Then over the winter after the wettest year on record we ended up with a severe mold issue in the house… 85% humidity indoors the condensation was so thick it was raining!!!  More reason to clean and repaint… and purchase a dehumidifier for each bedroom.  Since last year Nathan has attacked several areas of wallpaper in his room and his sister’s room as well.

So we are spending the latter part of our spring break emptying the room, thoroughly cleaning, scraping and painting and saying goodbye to a look we’ve all enjoyed for nearly 16 years.  We’ve gotten our money’s worth.  And thankfully half the wallpaper scraping was already done for us!

Once upon a time a couple in their early 40’s painted a room for their two boys as they anticipated the growing up years ahead.

Work in progress… stay tuned for more photos later.

Pi Day Party

In the past couple of years it seems to have become popular to celebrate March 14th as Pi Day.  Last year I even had to contribute some pies to a couple of math classes for my kids so I decided it was as good an excuse as any to make some pies for home as well.  The kids were thrilled with this concept.  This year I sort of forgot about it… that is, until I was invited to a “Pi Day Party” at a friend’s house.  “Just bring some pie”.  Before I gave any thought to the pie itself my kids got excited about chocolate chip pie.  So the decision was made and it’s an easy pie to throw together.  Everyone always love this one, too.

I ended up bringing three pies.  My kids can eat a whole chocolate chip pie by themselves (Lindsay ate four pieces by herself… I don’t know where she puts it) so I figured the second one was to share.  You can’t show up with one of the largest families and only a single pie!  The Savory Mashed Potato pie was a last minute response to the idea that this was dinner so I’d better supply something that was dinner-like.  This was the only dinner-like pie present and was gobbled up entirely.  Really, I couldn’t come home at 5 p.m., then fix dinner and still have time for a party.  Plus Haley and Rick weren’t out of school until 6 p.m. and so were meeting us there.  Any other dinner really wasn’t an option.  I did give my kids permission to eat whatever they wanted though… it doesn’t hurt any more than ice cream night… it’s only once a year.

Savory Mashed Potato Pie is very similar to a mashed potato pizza that UNO’s served back when I was pregnant the first time around sixteen years ago.  (I don’t know if they still serve it).  I loved that pizza and I ran into this healthier version in a cookbook filled with bake-off winners that my Mom gave to me not long after.  It gets much of its flavor from garlic and scallion.  There IS cheese, sour cream and bacon present but not to the same degree as the restaurant version.  This one also calls for sliced tomatoes.  I’d used up all my fresh tomatoes and my next shopping trip isn’t for a few more days so I rehydrated some of my sundried tomato slices from last year for the top of the pie.  They rehydrated perfectly and looked beautiful on top without the expense and trouble of making a special trip to the grocery store.  This pie received many compliments and a few recipe requests.  The chocolate chip pie is quite simply my children’s favorite pie… I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like it either.  Both pies were put into my own pinched and pricked pie crust.  It is a flakey crust and almost always turns out to be delicious.

Nathan chose some sort of chocolate cream pie taking the piece he had immediately stuck his finger into when he walked into the dining room, face lighting up at the sight of this dinner… and he got a piece of chocolate chip pie.  Mostly he just wanted to ride bikes, run around with friends and go down the slide.  He had a blast enjoying a late sunset on a 77 degree evening in a large tree filled fenced yard.  I always get a little bit of house envy over here.  It is a beautiful neighborhood filled with neat old (big) houses on the west side of Cincinnati.  We actually looked at a house down the street from this one and it would have been incredible to live in such a neat house with so much room for the kids.  My friend had a very successful party with probably 50 people in attendance, if not more.  Kaitlyn and my others ate as much pie as their tummies could hold and I’ll be feeding them plenty of broccoli tomorrow.  But today everyone was just happy to celebrate “Pi”.

Super Hero Kaitlyn and her Side-“Cake” Super Boy

For a couple of months now I’ve been hearing the announcement that “Super Boy” has arrived or heard the exclamation “Super Nathan to the Rescue”.  Sometimes I hear “Here comes Super Kaitlyn" and one day I was really surprised when asked if I wanted to meet Super Girl and her Side “Cake”!!!  A few times I’ve had the request to tie a quilty around the neck of a young boy but it’s too thick and doesn’t stay on long.  I have a friend who made capes for all of her boys for Christmas and so I thought “hmmm, maybe this is worth making a cape over” so I set out on the internet to find some instructions.  I found many renditions of superhero capes but I liked this one as I could make it reversible, it had a rounded lower edge, a variety of applique patterns to choose from and most importantly it had a velcro closure for safety.  Rick discovered that I had found instructions to make a cape a couple of weeks ago and said I was “SuperMom” because he would have been stuck wearing a shower curtain, he was sure!  Yesterday was rainy and so it became a good day to think about making a super hero cape.  Nathan and Kaitlyn both picked out some fabric yesterday afternoon and we all sat around the table coloring and cutting together.  Then after they were tucked in bed last night I ducked away and went to my sewing table to finish things up.  They each had a surprise waiting for them this morning.

Introducing Super Kaitlyn and her Side-“Cake”, Super Nathan!  (The side “cake” is my favorite). 

They were out investigating the back yard and rescuing ants from certain doom.

Sandy approved of the capes and the outdoor activity!

So Nathan’s costume came entirely from a big bag of “boy fabric” a friend of mine handed me last month.  I had been asking advice on making a quilt and she showed up a week later with a big bag of fabric she had picked out that had to do with the quilt theme we’d been discussing.  My friend has all daughters and her mother in law had handed her tons of fabric including lots of boy fabric.  This was fabric she knew she wasn’t going to use and didn’t want back.  Some of the fabric had been sitting around for a long time; a stapled “Gold Circle” price tag hand written with a price of $3 and change for virtually yards of blue fabric was a clue there.  My son was thrilled to discover “bob the builder” fabric and has been asking where his bob the builder quilt is.  Kaitlyn figured she could use her cape as a light blanket in a pinch and so I’m hoping this will satisfy Nathan as well.  I still have tons of fabric left in this bag for my own boys and maybe a few others as well.

I chalked out my dimensions and cut accordingly… times 4… these are reversible capes for two children.

I used scraps to cut out the stars that both children decided they wanted appliqued onto the backs of their capes.  I have carefully avoided applique up until now but I have to say, while all four didn’t turn out 100% perfect it really wasn’t all that hard either.  I’ve tackled much tougher sewing projects than applique so maybe I will expand now that I’ve succeeded with something that was purely for fun. 

The star shaped thread sewn through on the back of this blue fabric even looked good.  I used velcro at the collar of each cape sewing each piece on the right before the cape was sewn together.  This allows for the cape to be fastened reversibly and the stitching doesn’t show through at all.

Ironing and pinning the collar and fitting the cape together to sew it up took just a few minutes.

This project, for both capes, took a total of 3 hours.  The applique really added to that time and other than that is a very simple project.  I hope the kids will enjoy these capes for a while and use those creative imaginations they have for more adventures in the coming months.
For good instructions on making a cape I went to “Make It Monday” Superhero Cape at www.thelongthread.com and several applique patterns are available to print as well.

Kaitlyn’s Vantage

The world looks different to someone Kaitlyn’s age and height.  The other day she got a hold of my camera and asked if she could take a few pictures.  Sure!  Why not?  It’s simple, point & click and I’ve helped her to take pictures before so she knows what to do.  She apparently had the camera a little longer than I thought she did and ended up taking more than a couple of pictures.

No!  Not a litter pan.  Our cats frequently climb into the toy bins when they’re down off the shelf.  Scruffles used to climb into them on the shelf and curl up in soft toys when she was a kitten.  On the right is Sandy next to some window or door frame that needs a paint job.  Most of my house is in need of a coat of paint again right now.

Cats eating their afternoon meal after scattering some of it on the floor.  And Nathan in the Living Room with Sandy watching over him… probably interested in the favorite green string he’s got.

Say cheese, Mom!  Followed by a rather serious point and click of self.  Yeah, she was tired on this day with such weird week we had.

Smile Nathan and say “cheeeeese” and then Nathan gets his favorite pizza magnet.  Can we have pizza for dinner?  No, it’s not Friday.

Queen Sandy looking regal next to the fridge and a look UP at birthday cards which probably ought to come down and go into memory boxes.  There is so much to get to!

Sandy turns her back on the photographer and Spooky looks downright irritated when he should really be napping peacefully in that afternoon sun.

Nap!  No Nap for Nathan!  He doesn’t believe in them anymore, except maybe in the car.  And that’s a look at the world from Kaitlyn’s point of view.

February

I’m a little late in finishing my post for February…

Nathan took himself for a “Bear Hunt” for the first time; a story he truly loves.  He pat his hands on his knees like he was taking a walk, looked at the pictures to tell what would happen next and then do the action for it.  At the end when they find the bear and run away he would frantically “run” with his hands as fast as he could and tell the story backwards all out of breath and then he’d pause between pages as he figured out the next thing to pass on the way back “home”.  Then he’d “race” frantically again all out of breath until it was time to turn the page.  I love at the end when he reads “We’re not going on a bear hunt again” and then adds “until tomorrow”, a little something extra he picked up from Kaitlyn.  He loved this book nearly to death this month and it needs some tape.

We took a trip to the museum one afternoon.

The kids had a fun time playing in about 3 areas and left wishing for more time.

We made thank you notes this month for a birthday party as well as Valentines…

We had friends over on a day off of school.  They loved playing Hulabaloo until it wore them out.  They lined up to sit and watch Sesame Street for a few minutes at least.

Kaitlyn made fruit salad for dinner with some very very very large strawberries.  She was amazed at their size.  I helped her to use a sharp knife to trim the berries for the first time but I’m not leaving her to that task alone yet.  Haley gave the strawberries an attractive design in the salad.

Tristan enjoyed building this castle… originally his older sister had been inside of it as sort of an object lesson one Monday Night.  Then he and Lindsay had fun getting creative with it without anyone being inside of it.

We went to the zoo early one morning.  The giraffes walked right up to us… till they realized we didn’t have any food for them.  We saw the elephants being very active as well.  I think they liked the mild weather for February.  We saw both crocodiles and alligators.

Kaitlyn played a game of peek-a-boo with my camera.  She gets a little camera shy sometimes.

Nathan and Kaitlyn enjoyed the fresh air and seeing the hooved animals.

This large cat was VERY playful intently playing peek-a-boo with my son ducking behind this rock… a little too playful and maybe hungry as I thought he was going to try to have my boy for his lunch when Nathan ducked under the bar and started walking toward the fencing.  I yanked Nathan back by the hood just in time before he lost some digits to this creature.

We went to see turtles, fish, reptiles and manatees.  We left when the rain began near lunch time.

Nathan began in earnest to do bigger puzzles and loved the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears no matter which version he listened to.  He enjoyed alphabet games on his apple.

Kaitlyn showed up with a compass she’d made for self guided adventures.  I checked and she had the correct orientation on all her arrows!  And she made all kinds of signs for “Kaitlyn’s Book” or her room or her candy.

We played countless games of Cariboo at Nathan’s request.  He’s very good at following clues to the treasure identifying numbers, letters, shapes and colors and did a great job sharing the key and taking turns.  Then the play dough came out one day.

The clean up after the play dough reminded me that my friend is onto a good idea when she calls this an “outdoor” activity.  Ironically I did find a piece of grass in one of the containers.  I HAVE followed her advice before.  The kids had a good time with it and it helped pass the rainy morning.

Nathan worked on building towers straight up as well as like stair steps.  There was always a kitty nearby.

Signs up spring were lurking early before the middle of the month and we enjoyed looking for clues of changing seasons.