Happy third birthday SweetPea

Wow... where has the last three years gone? Gone in the blink of an eye.... the baby girl that daddy caught in our home has now surpassed being a baby girl and a toddler girl and has entered the realm of being a preschooler. If I can find her birth story, I will share it. Sadly, the last place where I know that it was posted was taken from me and I am not sure how to go about locating it.

We celebrated SweetPea's big number three with a dinosaur themed party. We had three little girls over, besides all the siblings and most of the immediate family. I made a dinosaur cake complete with a volcano, blew up more balloons that needed and even created an excavation site in the kitchen using sand and a bunch of "treasures".

The little girls had a blast flinging sand all over the place while uncovering small tokens and dinosaurs. Even the little girl in attendance who didn't care for dinosaurs squealed with delight every time she unearthed a new one from the sand. We played a game similar to "pin the tail on the donkey" only it was more "pin the skull to the brachiosaur skeleton".

I loved watching the three bigger girls all hold hands and run around in a circle screaming something that might have been "Ring Around the Rosie". Peanut had fun joining in on most of the activities in the name of "helping out" while Punk and Pickle spent more time with cousin G.... who proved that he really is the best big cousin in the world by joining in the games with SweetPea. Poor little PorkChop was still feeling crummy and just wanted to lay in mama's arms and whimper all day. We did get him to play with the girls a bit but only because his favorite girlie toddled over to him and proceeded to grin at him.

let the celebration begin

Wow! I don't think that I could have (or really should have) tried to pack any more into today. Between birthday preparations, sewing that needed to get done, cleaning and baking, today has been insane! And its far from over yet. I would love nothing more to curl up with my feverish little man and catch some sleep myself but I just don't see it happening.

The big celebration today was taking SweetPea and Peanut to Build a Bear for SweetPea's birthday. It was both the girls first time going and I think that they had a good time. Peanut picked out a fennel fox and SweetPea picked out a purple (of course) bear. The place was crazy busy being a weekend, being a crummy day to be outside and being that the mall was hosting a robotics competition. Oy! But we still made decent time, only spending about 90 minutes there which included building our new friends and allowing SweetPea to dress hers. Peanut already is talking about going back for her birthday and I would love to take PorkChop for his.

At home, I completed SweetPea's birthday skirt and shirt, got the ribbon sewed onto her birthday sweater, added buttons to her army outfit and baked two cakes. Yes, for her birthday cake I needed two separate cakes.

don't think that its going to happen

Being gone for a week was good for my soul, good for my peace of mind... really bad for my goals.

Yes, this was supposed to be given to SweetPea on her birthday.... which is Sunday. I haven't finished the length requirements that she wants yet, haven't done the pockets, hood, or even the sleeves. Taking six days off of knitting/sewing has really put me behind. It was worth it, don't get me wrong. I am just feeling the pinch now that we are that much closer to SweetPea's big day.

I did manage to get most of her birthday skirt done today. And PorkChop's shirt and longies are complete. I am not sure that I am going to be able to get SweetPea's chef's outfit done but I can always give that to her for Easter. Or just because. I like the idea of just because more.

I still need to figure out how to make a dinosaur cake too. I have some ideas which is much better than I was just a few days ago but it would mean getting creative and not doing "exactly" what SweetPea wanted. It should be ok though.... I just need to remember that she is only turning three and that a cake is more important than a specific cake.

I hope.

welcome home?

Wow, as if I wasn't behind enough, let's just shove more in my path, shall we?

SweetPea's third birthday and party are Sunday and really, this road trip, while a very welcome break from our norm, couldn't have come at a worse time. I have so much to prepare for and no time to actually do it. Add in that we had stowaways on our return trip and my limited time just became more limited.

We ended up making an emergency trip to the doctor's today for SweetPea. She has been feverish since Wednesday night but today, she was complaining of pain in her belly button region bad enough that she was in tears. This the same child that doesn't cry for anything (pain related). After listening to her sob unrelentlessly for an hour, we made the decision that a trip to the doctor might be in order. Turns out that she has an inner ear infection and major constipation. Wow, who would have guessed that from the child that pooped every day while we were gone?

Poor Porkchop has been feverish too and his little cheeks are really starting to tell the tale. My baby looks like someone slapped him across the face and he is miserably warm. I am guessing that its just viral though from his face so I am waiting it out.

Then Peanut and Punk had school conferences today. Whew... yeah, let's cram a bit more in there. Punk is actually doing better this marking so far than last. His teacher would like to see him use his voice a bit more in the classroom (I wonder if she would like to take him after school hours a bit since she thinks that he is quiet!!) and a bit more organized but other than that, he is doing well. Peanut, on the other hand... her conference didn't go badly. We signed her up for math tutoring since she is still just not getting it. I understand that math will never be a "favorite" subject for her but her aptitude scores and what she does in class are vastly different. So we know that she CAN do it, its just a matter of doing it now.

our Chicago road trip

My goal was to blog every day for a year but with being out in the windy city for five days without internet access (ok, so I HAD access but chose not to use it because I wanted to focus on my family time instead), I figured that breaks from the net could include breaks from the blog. Maybe I will eventually go back and fill in with pictures from those missing days but for now, I am just going to sum everything up in one post.

Friday, we (everyone but Pickle who went to his mom's) took off about noon for what we thought was a weekend road trip to a southern suburb of Chicago. We made pretty good time and actually got to our destination with enough time for the kiddos to check out the hotel's pool. Some place where we spent the majority of our hotel time.

Saturday, we got to have dinner with friends of mine that I hadn't seen in 7 years! I got to finally meet her daughter whose baby shower I attended back in 2004.

Sunday was just a lazy day of relaxing. We were going to sight see but hubby got back to the hotel too late so we decided to put it off until Monday when we were scheduled to leave.

Monday, hubby got told to expect to be there "just one more day".

Tuesday, hubby got asked to stay again "just one more day". Instead, we both decided that the kids had missed enough school for this round so we headed home. We made a stop at the Willis Tower and had an amazing afternoon 1353ft up in the Chicago skyline. Made it back home about 1030pm.

a peek of a shadow?

Happy Groundhog's Day! And in true form... Phil said that we will have six more weeks of winter! Woo! How does he do it?! I mean, its absolutely amazing that a groundhog can read a calendar enough to know that in just six more weeks, spring will be here. Then again with our weather this year, I am not going to complain about more winter. As long as our winter weather continues the way that it has so far.

And speaking of amazing.... Can you believe how big PorkChop is getting?! I was totally shocked this morning watching the way that he is grabbing the blocks, really using his hands and starting to use his fingers to pick them up instead of just pushing them around and hoping that they go where he wants them to. Yet again, just another sign that he won't remain my "baby" forever.

Another milestone is awaiting PorkChop tomorrow.... our family will be going on a road trip to the Windy City with hubby. He has to work nights from Friday to Sunday, so since it will mean just two days off of school for the bigs, we will be going with him. I am looking forward to it... Four days of swimming and relaxing and sleeping in.... Ok, who am I kidding?! But it will be a nice break from our normal every day routine. And a good chance to see just how well PorkChop does during long car rides.

Because of the road trip, I am calling today our last day of tot school for the week. I am the mama and the teacher so I get to make the rules. Hopefully, we will be able to come back from our break feeling refreshed and ready to go.

here we go again

A new month is now upon us and with that, a new sweater challenge for me to do! Up this month, a "gold" Lavanda sweater for SweetPea. When I first envisioned this sweater, I just knew that I was going to go with some custom made dinosaur buttons to match SweetPea's birthday theme/outfit. Instead, now that I have tickled the yarn a bit, I am thinking of something sunnier, something brighter.... Not flowery or "girlie" but something more sun-inspired. I find myself singing "You Are My Sunshine" whenever I pick up the needles. And its kind of fitting since this sweater DOES remind me of a warm, sunny day.

I know that I raved about the sweater that I did in January, but I really think that this one might even surpass it. I love the purples of SweetPea's birthday sweater but to me, the purples look older. This color is just so.... so..... fun. Its bright and warm and sunny and just makes me smile to look at it. Not to mention that the yarn is so soft and squishy.

I decided to challenge myself a bit and add some afterthought pockets to this one. I have done a hood before, so that's not new. The amount of cable work is a bit of a challenge (or at least, more than I have ever done in a single project before) but its the pockets that I am most looking forward to trying. Wish me luck! I do not want to mess this one up!