Tacy was bridesmaid, Dakota was the flower [...]]]> Saturday was  our anniversary. There is some dispute about how many years we have been married, but it’s generally acknowledged to be five or six. We don’t usually do much for it, with three kids and no baby-sitters, but we did have a wedding, thanks to our creative daughters.

Tacy was bridesmaid, Dakota was the flower girl, and Rowan was… well, Rowan. I got into my wedding dress, sort of, and the big girls wore their dresses from my brother’s wedding last summer. Rowan was wearing something, I don’t remember. Jeremy stood by the back door (dressed appropriately in the hoodie he bought on our honeymoon, since we didn’t have a tux) and the girls took turns walking down the hall toward him. Dakota was very solemn. Tacy was smiley. Rowan was excited to be doing something with her big sisters. After I proceeded down the aisle, Jeremy and I joined hands and spun in a circle, the accepted method of marriage in our household. Then all the girls got to hold hands and spin, taking turns getting married.

I don’t have any pictures, on purpose. My dress only zipped halfway up the back, and therefore gapped at the bust. I’ll let you picture that for yourself.

I just typed this whole post about Tacy’s birthday and then Firefox barfed and now I am back to zero. Stupid computers. Now it’ll just be the condensed version.

Here is the dress I made Tacy. We had a balloon theme, so I embroidered that red balloon on this otherwise very simple dress. The [...]]]>

I just typed this whole post about Tacy’s birthday and then Firefox barfed and now I am back to zero. Stupid computers. Now it’ll just be the condensed version.

Here is the dress I made Tacy. We had a balloon theme, so I embroidered that red balloon on this otherwise very simple dress. The fabric is a cotton/linen blend from Sew, Mama, Sew, and I love it. I made myself a skirt from it too and I’m planning a couple of other projects as well as the purchase of some more. Maybe in other colors as well.

My dad made her this incredible balance beam, and my mom helped finish it. T has been asking for a balance beam for months, and she was very pleased. I had sent my dad a link to this which is about $300 I think. He came up with his version which is better because it is pink. I just realized that for some reason I only uploaded about half of the birthday photos to smug mug, so I’ll post a picture of it later.

Family came to visit, there were balloon animals by Amelia, gelato by Libby, grilled veggies by Jeremy, my dad picked up a bunch of meat, barbecued down the street at the Smoke House, and we had cupcakes by Sparkle.

Turns out, when we’re all kind of sick and can’t get to the grocery store, we ended up eating all sorts of homemade goodness, mainly out of necessity. Several people out there in internet land have made homemade bagels lately, so I thought I’d better give them a try too. I used this [...]]]>

Turns out, when we’re all kind of sick and can’t get to the grocery store, we ended up eating all sorts of homemade goodness, mainly out of necessity. Several people out there in internet land have made homemade bagels lately, so I thought I’d better give them a try too. I used this recipe, which I got to from a link from Angry Chicken. She had also mentioned that she did not make cream cheese to go along with them, but since there was no way I was dragging two sick and one bored child to the store for cream cheese, I made that too, again following a link she provided. My friend at Northern Lights Mama made the observation that bread flour is essential, and I have to agree. There is something not quite right about my bagels that I think would be improved by using bread flour. However, they are good. Especially when spread thickly with the cream cheese (which I snuck some heavy cream into). The cheese was super easy, and good. I think I would follow the advice of some of the reviewers and use a mixture of lemon juice and vinegar for a little bit more “tang.”

She fell, knocking her head on [...]]]> This was going to be a super long, wordy, post about an accident Rowan had earlier this week. Several days later it seems silly, as she is just fine. However, I feel I should record these moments of terror she gives us for future reference. I’ll keep it much shorter.

She fell, knocking her head on the sidewalk, while playing with her sisters  outside. Jeremy was out there with her and got to her first. He scooped her up and then noticed that she looked like something was wrong. I’m not sure exactly when everything happened, but by the time he got her to me, she was convulsing and her lips were starting to turn blue. We realized she wasn’t really breathing and began to panic. Also, seeing your baby convulsing in your arms with her eyes rolled back in her head is terrifying and makes you think all sorts of things you never want to to think. Our friend Ryan was outside with them as well, and got on the phone with 911 immediately (and was totally calm and collected despite the fact that I was screaming at him “SHE’S NOT BREATHING!” ) Jeremy went inside with the big girls to get them calmed down and I took Rowan back outside, mainly because I wanted to be around someone else who could maybe save her if necessary.

She stopped convulsing, I think, and I put her back on the sidewalk. This was not so smart, I think now, but it’s the flattest surface out there because our yard is so crappy and lumpy and I wanted to make sure her airway was clear. She continued to turn blue (hands and feet now) and I started randomly blowing in her face and sort of puffing at her mouth – not really doing anything I was supposed to, and probably doing things I shouldn’t. Finally, her lips suddenly turned pink and she started making little moaning noises. Soon after that the paramedics came, and I held her in the ambulance while Jeremy drove along behind.

At the ER, we basically sat around for a while. There was no visible injury, and everyone seems pretty sure that she did not pass out from hitting her head, but from holding her breath too long while winding up to cry. Also, everyone kept saying how normal it was for her to convulse and turn blue. Needless to say, normal or not, that is not something Jeremy or I ever want to see again.

The title of the post is about Lost. This is not. This did happen on the night of the Lost series finale. I did still get to watch, I loved it and thought it was a great, Narnia-esque end to a great series and held the baby the whole time.

This is still kind of wordy, but nowhere near where it was.

The big girls each got new jammies this week. A couple of weeks [...]]]>

The big girls each got new jammies this week. A couple of weeks ago I bought each girl a 3-pack of camisoles when they were on sale at Fred Meyer. I have enough fabric already to make them each at least 3 pairs of pajama pants, so for under $15 they’ll each have three sets of pajamas to wear this summer, which I think is plenty. Especially since they each already have a pair or two that were either bought ahead or hand-me-downs. Rowan has plenty, I think, from her big sisters, so we should be all set.

For this first pair, I used the pattern for bloomers from this pattern (which I used to make Dakota’s birthday dress, and plan on using a couple of more times, at least.) They are supposed to have elastic near the hem, so the legs get all poofy, but when I let Tacy try them on to make sure the waist was the right size, she told me she did not want elastic at the bottom. Which meant that Dakota didn’t either. I think they’re still cute, especially in this really light weight cotton. Both girls love them, even though they aren’t pink, because they have little blue flowers. I think they also love them because it’s all French seams inside, so no raw edges anywhere.  I think next I’ll use the pajama pants pattern from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross.

Maybe I’ll even get around to making some for Mama and Papa, too.