Swimming in the River

One of the best things about our camping trip was swimming. We told Lydia we were going swimming and she wasn't really sure about it. A few times she said she was "ready go pool now"!

Once we got her into the water she was OK, until she saw the bugs.

Fortunately, the really fun lazy river that someone created by re-arranging the rocks in the river out weighed the bugs and we got Lydia to play in the water for a while.

Camping Trip

We took Lydia camping in the "Daddy-Wagon" as Lydia calls it. We had a really good time, but at the moment, I am tired and muddy and smokey. So enjoy a picture of out overloaded Impala, full of all the gear we took to the Great Smokey mountains for our short wilderness adventure!

Misc. Pics.

I have several pictures from events that probably won't get their own post and unfortunately sometimes that means they just get set aside. We are going camping tomorrow, so I should have some wilderness pictures and stories to share soon and I didn't want all of these to go without being shared. First is a rare mommy and Liddy picture, taken at Conner's birthday. A friend of mine took this one and I don't even remember her taking it. I am amazed that Lydia and I are both looking in the right direction. Here is Lydia showing how BIG she is now. Conner's birthday is the same as Lydia's, same day/same year, so why shouldn't she show off a little?

Here is Lydia reading a book to her dolly. My mom made her dress and the dolly, and the dolly's dress....and the book ....Just kidding about the book. She bought that! Check out that expression. I think she is up to something!

Lydia is enjoying her new play dough that she got for her birthday. I don't know why I hadn't bought her play dough yet. I LOVE play dough. And I am LOVING this monkey contraption. We had a play dough barber shop toy when I was little and the hair did the same thing. The problem was the small holes. They made GREAT hair, but always got clogged. Looks like the monkey has thicker dreads, so the problem seems to be solved.

I also have unpublished photos of a few crazy meals I cooked up, but for now I will stick with cute Lydia over my weird culinary creations!

Big Ideas for the Little Girl's Room

So, all of the rooms in our upstairs have sloped ceilings. Lydia's nursery is a complete triangle, not a vertical wall in sight! It definitely posed a decorating challenge.

One day, when we were only thinking about a baby (and I was thinking where we would PUT a baby, and how I could decorate that space) it hit me like a ton of bricks.....CIRCUS TENT! I suddenly remembered the circus train crib my dad made for us kids when we were babies. I started dreaming of ways to drape fabric to cover the ceiling, create a "wall", and create storage space hidden behind the "wall".

I was so happy with the way the room turned out. You will have to excuse me for being a little nostalgic, but with Lydia's move to a big bed, she has moved out of her circus room. I am not ready to put the crib away, partly because we would like to have more kids and partly because it is big and solid and some work to take apart. So today I packed up the crib sheets with the realization that no one will sleep in there for a while.

So farewell to the super cute circus room and hello new design challenge. The guest room that is becoming Lydia's bedroom does have a few more walls, but it is also in the roof line of the house, so picture a triangle with the two ends cut off. Since we aren't buying new furniture right now, I have been dreaming about new paint schemes, but keep getting stuck at what to do with the ceiling when it makes up part of the walls. Much like the nursery, it hit me like a ton of bricks the other day. A GARDEN FENCE set against the blue sky!

This doesn't have the blue sky, but it has the right feel and I love the tiny piece of fence.

How SWEET is this! PJ would have to help with the construction, but something like this actually IS possible in our weird attic rooms.

OK, so this is CRAZY detailed. I am not even going to try to do this much, but it is a lovely inspiration image to pull ideas from.

So here is my idea. I want to paint the whole room blue. Then I think i will stencil in a wrought iron fence. I have been up in the air about a real fence or a stenciled fence and then about a white fence picket fence, a natural wood fence, or wrought iron. Today I found these hanging planters CHEAP at Hammers. (Do you know Hammers? It was my first trip. Kind of trashy, but a few good finds.) The planters are wrought iron, so I think I am leaning in that direction. My idea is to paint the fence, then hang the planters and use them for toy storage. I really want to paint one corner of the room to look like a little cottage. It will be REALLY small, but should give enough of an idea that a little table and a few home-ish touches should provide a play house feel. So, what do you think. Is it cute or does it look like I just put Lydia in toddler jail?


UPDATE!! After going through NUMEROUS different ideas (here, here, and here) we FINALLY finished Lydia's "big girl" bedroom as a Christmas gift in late December 2010/ Early January 2011.  You can see the painted murals, bedding, tea table, dollhouse, and kitchen area by clicking HERE!  I am really proud of how the room turned out.

Happy 4th of July!

Or... Happy July as Lydia has been saying. Either way, I hope you enjoyed yourselves. We had several cookouts to attend on both Saturday and on Sunday. I like major holiday being on Sunday because it felt like we went ahead and celebrated it twice! I decided Lydia needed pig tails to celebrate properly. Here are a few pictures of her hanging out on the lawn mower. It seemed very "American" to me!

The Girl and the Bed

So, a few weeks ago Lydia was sick, so she slept in our bed instead of in her crib. Then we went to the beach, so she slept in a twin trundle instead of her crib. Then my mom was in town, so she slept in her guest bed instead of her crib. The result, she now asks to sleep in a big bed instead of her crib. I knew this day was coming, but I had visions of moving all the furniture out of my guest room/craft room, painting the walls, buying furniture and bedding, and then transitioning her from nursery to her own big girl room. Instead, it has been a gradual and incomplete transition. First, I lowered the bed. This isn't just any bed. Family legend holds that it was found in the family farm house when my grandmother married my grandfather and moved in. At some point it made it's way to my family's household and eventually became mine. I think my brother had it first and I can't remember why I got it. Either way, it is a very old bed. It is also a very high bed, or at least it was. Because the rails are so high, I was able to place the box spring and mattress directly on the floor and they fit perfectly under the frame. So Lydia gets a big girl bed. I don't have to buy a bed or try to store this one in the attic. Because it is on the floor, I don't have to worry about her falling out of bed.

Now, because none of the furniture is changed, the challenge is making it her room and somehow different from my craft/guest room. We have a few more modifications to work out around the house so we don't want to spend any money on new bedding or furniture right now. Fortunately, I had several quilts in my possession to choose from. I settled on using this beautiful pink and red cross-stitch quilt that my mom made for me a few years ago. I had maroon drapes and accents in the room already so it matched but definitely gave the room a younger feel. It also looks good with the Alice in Wonderland quilt that my mom gave Lydia for her birthday. I have that quilt resting over the foot board. I used a few scrap pieces from that quilt fabric to cover a small pillow so that ties it together even more. Then I added a few of her dolls, toys, books, and pictures and it is really starting to make the room look like it belongs to a little girl. Now I just need to move out all of my junk!

Finally, check out the furry pink pig slippers I found the other day. She wanted to sleep in them!

The Photo Booth

My dad was kind enough to agree to man the photo booth at Lydia's Mad Hatter Tea Party. We set up one corner of the room with a back drop (made out of the other Indian sari that I found at the thrift store). I added a plant and the cut out of Alice that I traced and painted. There were also some props laying nearby. We offered to e-mail the pictures out to anyone who left us an e-mail address, so if you had a picture taken and i haven't sent you the image yet, let me know!

PJ poses with Alice before the party.

Aunt Betty, I didn't have your e-mail, but I know you read the blog, so here is your picture.

I couldn't resist creating one pair of Tweedle Dee twins. Hopefully Zoe doesn't mind!

Conner shares Lydia's birthday. His mom and I were college roommates more than 10 years ago. There were 4 of us in the dorm and we all ended up pregnant with our first babies at the same time. It was a great reason to re-connect and compare notes.

Finally, here is Lydia with her Nana and her Pop Pop.